Free Web NovelIn the ruins outside the small Zoroastrianism-style temple in the center of Yumen Pass.
Bai Kai stood amidst the crumbling walls, staring blankly at the sky, finally opening his mouth, ready to voice his wish.
Looking at the wishes of the Miracle Order members around him, one after another, he hesitated for a long time before finally making a choice among the many wishes.
If he could, he wanted to go back to when he was nineteen.
That year, he was still just the junior disciple of the Yumen Sand Sea lineage, protected by everyone. Although Lu Ming always played tricks on him, Lu Ming would always help him solve truly dangerous situations. He had no heavy burdens on his shoulders, and he never had to worry about tomorrow...
That year, he met a girl. Although she looked fierce, she was actually very gentle. She would prepare hot meals for him when he returned to his rented room after work, would secretly kiss his lips when he was asleep, and would snuggle in his arms like a kitten and fall asleep...
Although everything is good now, compared to when he was nineteen, he always felt that something was missing.
They say that memories are like an old beauty, and time adds a filter to this beauty, with full whitening, skin smoothing, face slimming, and big eye effects.
“A wish? I have no wishes. I’m quite satisfied with my current situation! Even if I had any wishes, they’re not something you can fulfill.”
Before Bai Kai could voice his wish, Lord Bing’s extremely calm, yet somewhat condescending voice suddenly sounded in his ear.
Hearing this, he instantly broke free from the illusion that was so real he felt he could grasp it with a stretch of his hand.
Bai Kai, “...” As expected of you!
It was only at times like this that he would genuinely feel a hint of admiration for Lord Bing.
He was truly too arrogant, believing he could do anything.
And this arrogance, besides making his personality particularly annoying, brought him an unimaginable resilient mind.
As a descendant of the The Torch Bearers, he seemed to have inherited his ancestors' will, truly embodying the The Torch Bearers' motto: “Fear no evil, worship no gods.”
Therefore, even the “God’s” gift was beneath him.
It was probably due to this resilient mind that he was able to withstand the corruption brought by the ninety-seven portraits of famous generals.
As the saying goes, “When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning hare is dead, the running dog is cooked.”
Most famous generals and fierce warriors throughout history did not have good endings. Bai Kai, who also possessed a mixed Spirit Mark but had only drawn thirty-six portraits of literati and swordsmen, knew all too well how strong the corrupting power carried by the Spirit Mark composed of their portraits was.
That was absolutely a terrifying power capable of turning ninety-nine percent of Psychic into urban legend within seconds!
Seeing Bai Kai look at him, Lord Bing curled his lips and said, “Oh? I thought you’d be swayed by that monster and make a wish!”
“If that were the case, I’d have to leave you behind and retreat first, after all, that thing is coming over soon.”
Bai Kai looked in the direction Lord Bing pointed, and before his eyes could register any change, his spiritual sense was preemptively triggered.
A Spiritual Energy fluctuation that made his heart involuntarily palpitate entered the range of his spiritual sense detection.
It made him feel, in a trance, as if a thousand armies and ten thousand horses were approaching.
As that Spiritual Energy fluctuation continuously drew closer, a gloomy, oppressive presence permeated the sky, advancing from the horizon like a rising tide.
Immediately after, two formless and qualityless Spiritual Energy fluctuations suddenly collided, outlining a hair-thin, dazzling white line at the point of impact.
Soundless, yet it made one's heart suddenly leap and hair stand on end.
Thus, the sky was delineated, one side bright, one side dark, clearly distinct.
“Dong—dong—dong—!”
Heavy footsteps, like war drums, came from afar. The earth trembled, and then a burly figure, clad in black armor and holding a twisted long spear, was seen walking from a pile of ruins along the wide main street that ran through the entire Yumen Pass, heading this way.
The one who came was the Shaman King, who had caused a great deal of slaughter within Yumen Pass over the past day. The bloodstains on his spear had not even dried yet.
The moment he saw the Shaman King, Bai Kai's expression changed slightly, and he subconsciously placed his hand on the long sword at his waist.
Although there was only one figure in his sight, solitary and alone, he felt that the oppressive feeling of a thousand armies and ten thousand horses approaching became even stronger.
It was as if that single figure was a well-trained army.
And this army did nothing but advance, making one feel that “they” were coming for revenge.
The flames {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} of hatred transformed into a scarlet, tyrannical light, erupting from the gaps in the tattered black armor, spreading in wisps, and condensing behind him into a several-meter-long cloak, fluttering like a battle flag. The intense light stung one's eyes, making it difficult to look directly.
Getting closer and closer, occasionally, someone who was momentarily overwhelmed by the joy of a sudden dream come true would approach the figure, only to be immediately swallowed by the scorching red storm stirred up by its Spiritual Energy. Then their bones would wail, their Spirit Mark would go out of control, and soon their body would no longer be able to maintain itself, disintegrating into dust.
Seeing this, Lord Bing glanced at Bai Kai, seeing him still standing there in a daze, he shook his head helplessly, then grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him, retreating quickly.
The Shaman King was clearly coming for the First Generation Miracle Saint. Even if he considered himself not weaker than the Shaman King, there was no need for him to foolishly interfere before those two fought to a mutual defeat.
A sudden strong wind howled, slapping Bai Kai's face, bringing him back to his senses. He turned his head to look at Lord Bing, pointing a finger in the direction of the Shaman King and saying, “Is this reasonable? That guy who just died violently, he was an A-level Psychic, and he was instantly killed?”
“After seeing him, I feel like I'm a fake Calamity!”
Lord Bing looked down and rolled his eyes at Bai Kai, killing the conversation as soon as he spoke.
“You were always a fake Calamity.”
Bai Kai, “...”
“What’s more...” As if considering Bai Kai’s feelings, Lord Bing remained silent for a few seconds before adding, “I can feel that fellow’s authority is related to war...”
“In the face of war, no matter how powerful an individual’s strength is, it’s not worth mentioning, which is why it causes crushing damage to Psychic and urban legend below the Calamity level.”
“Now that you put it that way, I suddenly feel much better.” Bai Kai nodded and said, “So what should we do now? Things seem to be going wrong.”
“Now...” Lord Bing opened his mouth, wanting to say something to Bai Kai, but before he could speak, his face suddenly turned pale, as if he had sensed something.
He sensed war.
It seemed that war, which would destroy everything, was about to arrive.
The surrounding space suddenly shook, as if struck by some terrifying, invisible giant object.
Frightening Spiritual Energy fluctuations instantly swept across more than half of Yumen Pass, conjuring countless illusions before their eyes.
Constantly clashing weapons, fiercely burning flames, mountains of corpses...
The next moment, a mighty roar erupted from behind, stinging their eardrums.
Having traversed more than half of Yumen Pass, the Shaman King finally reached the center of the city gate and hurled the blood-stained long spear towards his target.
The dark long spear, a black dragon soaring into the sky, flew towards the god-like golden figure in the sky. The terrifying Spiritual Energy fluctuations stirred up crimson flames.
Anger was burning!
The fire light, in mid-air, trailed a thousand-meter-long crimson path, like a ladder of revenge leading to the sky.
The dark spear collided with the golden figure.
In an instant, a roar suddenly spread, suppressing all other sounds, and the entire Yumen Pass seemed to fall into a deadly silence.
Surging Spiritual Energy stirred up violent air currents, spreading in all directions...
————
Meanwhile, in a cafe about three kilometers from the Si Ye Hui Headquarters.
Accompanied by the cafe's soothing music, under the warm, gentle lighting, a boy with a handsome yet somewhat youthful face and a woman with exquisite makeup and an intellectual aura leaned shoulder to shoulder, creating a subtle scene that caused passersby outside the floor-to-ceiling glass window to frequently glance over. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
There was an inexplicable feeling that a beautiful Sister had hired a young boy to accompany her on a date.
On the table in front of them, a roughly ten-inch tablet screen displayed live footage from within Yumen Pass.
Nameless Book stared at the screen with a solemn expression for a moment, and even though she was usually calm and indifferent, the corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch.
The live video provided by Void, in terms of picture quality, couldn't be called bad; it was almost non-existent.
From beginning to end, all the footage summarized into a black little person appearing from the left side of the screen, killing various “minions” along the way, arriving at the center of the screen, approaching the area of the golden little person, and incidentally dyeing half the screen in cool tones, then shooting out a black line to attack the golden little person.
It was outrageous!
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If she hadn't known in advance that this was a live video from inside Yumen Pass, and could vaguely sense what was happening there, she might have even thought it was a pixelated game from the 1990s.
“......”
In silence, Nameless Book turned to look at the young man, and their gazes met. Only then did she realize that he had been secretly observing her the whole time.
His gaze was exactly like that of the little girl at the next table, who had been eyeing the cake on their table with a greedy look.
This guy...
Is he really trying to devour me? Nameless Book wondered.
She had long noticed that her authority and the Void's authority were highly compatible. When she first met the Void, she even had a slight urge to devour him.
If it were the Void, who was already much weaker than her, being able to devour her authority and merge it with his own would definitely lead to a qualitative leap in power.
Composing herself, Nameless Book pointed at the screen and said to the Void, “Can’t it be clearer?”
Hearing this, the Void looked bitter, spread his hands, and said helplessly, “Sister, aren’t you making things difficult for me? Although the plan to invade Yumen Pass by using the Spiritual Energy interaction generated when God Kingdoms repel each other did work, that is a complete large-scale God Kingdom after all, and I only have a defective product.”
“To have this level of picture is already very good... And this is the result I achieved after failing more than two hundred times!”
“......” Nameless Book nodded thoughtfully, “Understood.”
After speaking, she stood up and walked out of the coffee shop.
Seeing this, the Void was stunned for a moment and called out to Nameless Book’s back, “Hey! Sister, where are you going?”
Hearing the sound, Nameless Book paused slightly, turned sideways, and said expressionlessly, “Going back.”
She had seen what she wanted to see, and there was no need to stay here any longer. There was still a lot of work waiting for her to handle in Observation Room No. 2.
From the images obtained from the Void, the halt in the spread of the night erosion and the suspension of the night erosion level's rise in Yumen Pass were indeed greatly related to the attack by the urban legend suspected to be the Shaman King, which affected 【Archive No. 0037-2】's continued use of her authority.
In addition, the collision and neutralization of two different Spiritual Energies might also have caused the night erosion level to stop rising.
But Nameless Book deduced that neither of these was the main reason.
The night erosion level, to a certain extent, reflects the degree of corruption and degradation. It can only be reduced if the corruption and degradation are eliminated. Neither the influence on 【Archive No. 0037-2】's authority nor the neutralization from Spiritual Energy collisions could cause the night erosion level to fall back.
This proves that there is still some special factor within Yumen Pass at this moment, which has such a significant impact on Yumen Pass that it is enough to eliminate a part of the corruption and degradation.
“......”
If that key factor could be found and promoted to unleash greater energy, it might be possible to prevent Yumen Pass from completely losing control.
At a time like this, it would be great if she could contact Lord Bing or Lord Huaiyuan, who are inside Yumen Pass. Unfortunately... Thinking of this, Nameless Book raised her hand and rubbed her slightly throbbing forehead.
Lord Bing was fine, after all, his entry into Yumen Pass was a personal act. Although he had reported it to the Night Watch in advance, he did not leave effective contact information. But Lord Huaiyuan really made her feel a bit of a headache.
She had clearly prepared a special communication item for Lord Huaiyuan, but she didn't know if the item was lost, or if Lord Huaiyuan simply didn't take her words to heart. In short, she couldn't be contacted at all now.
Being unable to have Lord Huaiyuan help find the key factor to prevent Yumen Pass from losing control was secondary, after all, Lord Huaiyuan wasn't specialized in such tasks, and there were other methods to consider.
The important thing was that if she couldn’t be contacted, she couldn’t be reminded to eat her “energy bars.”
You know, those were special “books” used to provoke Lord Huaiyuan, recording various information that could anger her, and they were the key items that allowed her to quickly become the strongest combatant in Yumen Pass from a mediocre Calamity.
That's right, the energy bars in Lord Huaiyuan's bag were a special kind of “book.”
Just like e-books are also books.
The essence of reading is to acquire knowledge and information, and it has little to do with whether the medium is an e-book or an energy bar.
But now...
It might have been lost along with the communication device.
What a headache. Nameless Book thought.
“Sister, don’t go, don’t go!” Just as Nameless Book was feeling a headache because of Lord Huaiyuan, the Void’s voice suddenly rang out.
“Although I can’t make the video clearer, I might be able to try to contact someone you know in Yumen Pass!”
According to the expensive investigation by the Void into the romantic history of Calamity and the one from Taoyuan, spending more time together is key to warming up their relationship.
Now that he had finally managed to ask Nameless Book out, even if it wasn't exactly a date, it was a rare opportunity. How could he let her leave?
Hearing the Void’s words, Nameless Book’s body stiffened slightly. She turned to look at the Void and said faintly, “Elaborate.”
The Void rubbed his nose with his index finger and grinned, “Hehe, it’s actually very simple. Just locate your acquaintances, Sister, and then slightly convert the signal transmission mode. After all, audio signal transmission is much easier than video signal transmission.”
“Conditions.”
“Huh?” The Void tilted his head, looking at Nameless Book with a puzzled expression, as if he hadn’t understood what she was saying.
“What are your conditions for helping me?” Nameless Book asked.
In her opinion, he must want some benefit.
He might help for free with some small matters, but invading the Divine Kingdom Jade Gate was very costly for the Void, so he wouldn't help unconditionally.
Just like last time, when the God of Virtual Currency caused the urban legend incident, the condition the Void proposed was for her to introduce Caishen (God of Wealth) and vouch for him so he could join the operation.
Looking at Nameless Book’s cold and distant expression, a hint of disappointment flashed across the Void’s face, but then, as if he remembered something, he smiled, revealing two sharp canine teeth.
“Oh right, conditions! Of course there are conditions, hmm, let me think... The condition is, after it’s done, Sister has to go on a date with me for one day!”
Nameless Book frowned upon hearing this.
A date?
Does he want to observe closely, try to find a weakness, and then seize the opportunity to devour?
Hmph, what wishful thinking!
Thinking of this, Nameless Book nodded, “Okay.”
However, letting a clone accompany him for a day wouldn't affect her work, so it seemed harmless?
The Void jumped up, cheering excitedly, “Yay! It’s a deal then!”
Nameless Book glanced at him askance and reminded him coldly, “After it’s done...”
“Right, right, after it’s done! It’s too early to be happy now.” The Void said, scratching the back of his head with a smile.
“Do you know who to contact?” Nameless Book asked.
“I know, I know!” The Void replied repeatedly, “Lord Huaiyuan or Nanling Yaohua, they are both your acquaintances, right, Sister?”
“Mm.” Nameless Book nodded slightly, “Go.”
Although she knew that Lord Bing was also inside Yumen Pass, since the Void was afraid of Lord Bing and deliberately didn't mention him, she wouldn't force the Void to approach Lord Bing.
After all, that guy Lord Bing was unpredictable, and it wouldn't be impossible for him to crush the Void in minutes.
“Alright! Then I’ll head back first. I’ll contact you, Sister, once the task is complete!” the Void said.
With that, he hugged his tablet computer and trotted out of the coffee shop.
Although converting video signals to audio signals is easy, locating a specific target among so many urban legend within Yumen Pass is not an easy task, and it inevitably requires extensive use of authority.
A urban legend lurking in this coffee shop less than three kilometers from the Si Ye Hui Headquarters was already the limit; activating his authority further would be too much and would definitely lead to retribution.
Watching the Void’s figure disappear into the bustling street, Nameless Book frowned slightly.
She felt that something was not quite right, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Finally, she shook her head, stretched, and quickly walked towards the huge ancient building that housed the Si Ye Hui Headquarters.
Time to work...
She wondered how the Black Emperor’s negotiations with those few had gone. If the talks broke down, there might be a whole lot of messy things to deal with.
In short, she would be busy for a while.
